Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of attending a pair of U.S. hotel lending conferences—one on the East Coast and one on the West Coast. While the content was similar, the prevailing mood in the conference’s hallways seemed vastly different.

I began in Boston at the Hotel Equity and Lender Perspectives conference. This was the first year for the HELP event and as you might imagine from a rookie conference the vibe from attendees was an optimistic one.

Pulling up to the gas pump, I was already doing the math in my head. OK, $3.89 a gallon, times a 12-gallon tank equals no discretionary driving this weekend …

I also couldn’t help but think I’m not the only consumer cutting out trips as gas prices creep ever higher (perhaps as high as $5 or $6 a gallon by summer, according to CNBC.) So with that thought in mind, I reached out to hotel industry data experts for their take on what effect rising fuel costs might have on hotel demand. 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average recently elbowed its way past the 13,000 barrier, and hotel stocks are going along for the ride.

As evidenced by a surging Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index, industry stock prices are on the rise. The Hotel Stock Index closed 28 February at 2284.71, up nearly 49% since closing at 1535.26 on 3 October 2011.

I got a call recently from a C-suite executive who wanted nothing more than to blow off a little steam following an internal hotel sector forecast meeting.

During the meeting, the executive questioned how the team generated some of the forecast data that was presented. The team responded. They were using forecast data from the industry’s research companies.

The stock market wasn’t kind to U.S. public real-estate investment trusts in 2011.

REITs saw across-the-board declines in their stock prices, with most of the drops spurred by capital market upheaval that began in early August.

The Latino Hotel Association gave me the chance to fulfill a lifelong dream.

While covering the association’s 2011 International Conference & Expo in Las Vegas last month, I was asked to serve as one of three judges for the LHA’s “Battle of the Brands” charity boxing event that raises money for a Latino college fund, as well as job training programs for Latinos in the hospitality industry.